


Fear and Loathing in Parent Teacher Interviews

by 999blackflowers



Category: Layton Kyouju Series | Professor Layton Series
Genre: Angst, Bad Parenting, Bittersweet, Layluke but its parenting, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, parenting attempts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:27:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25146193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/999blackflowers/pseuds/999blackflowers
Summary: Luke and Hershel must navigate parent teacher interviews for their daughter Katrielle. Things are difficult.
Relationships: Hershel Layton/Luke Triton
Comments: 11
Kudos: 12





	1. Ice Cream

**Author's Note:**

> A/N from 999blackflowers: Hello everyone! I've been sitting on this fic for a while and thought I should finish it and upload it. I hope you enjoy! Please be aware this fic contains darker themes.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR CHAPTER 1  
> Food

Luke stared down at the watch he had on his wrist, partially concealed by the white button-down shirt he’d chosen to wear today. Tick. Tock. Tick. Getting closer to 3pm. Clicking his tongue habitually, he looked back up at the building. A couple of other people were standing out here, mostly… soccer mums. He rubbed his eyes as a thought occurred to him - was  _ he  _ a soccer mum? Goddamnit.

This wasn’t exactly how he’d expected his life to go, but y’know what? That was okay. Ths was great. He’d managed to skyrocket up the ranks in his veterinarian job at a rapid rate since he’d joined, and he was already earning 6 figures. 

He glanced around the area and felt the peaceful breeze through his hair and rustling the tree leaves. A couple pre-autumn leaves had fallen to the ground. The trees would be turning golden soon. Then perhaps he could head to the park with Kat to play in the leaves together on a Sunday morning. Nice thoughts. As the breeze temporarily eased, he felt a heavy beat of silence. His watch made a soft beep to indicate it was 3pm.

The bell rang, splitting the air. Immediately people would be starting to stream out. Luke leaned against the thin tree in the morning tea and lunch area, waiting for Katrielle to come find him. Now of course, the stream of kids coming out was slow at first before it was a torrent. His eyes went to the surrounding roads where a couple school buses were waiting, and some of the older kids in high visibility vests, the ‘road patrol’ to help the younger kids cross. 

He had a little coupon tucked up one of his sleeves - hoping to reveal it when she came out, but goddamn that was a bit of a bad idea because he could feel it cutting into his arm. Luke awkwardly adjusted his sleeve as he had for the last 30 minutes he’d had it pushed up there. 

It took a minute, but he shortly saw tiny Katrielle jumping down the stairs - two at a time - her blue eyes turning to her father and a grin spreading across her face as she ran towards him, her little light-up sequin sneakers sparkling.

“Daaad!” She declared as she stopped an inch ahead of him, her hair having fallen out of her ponytail and her beige uniform stained with all sorts of paint colours. Luke smiled warmly although felt a pang of annoyance at the fact he might have to handwash that- “We did self portraits today!”

“Oh, self portraits?” Luke offered his hand, watching her wrap her small hand around two of his fingers. “When do parents get to see them?”

“Once they’re done!” Katrielle looked up to him, and only then Luke noticed she had a smudge of red on her chin. 

“Let me-” Luke reached down, pulling his handkerchief from his back pocket to spit into and wipe her chin, Katrielle pouting as he did so. 

He stuffed it back into his pocket, briefly wondering how she even got paint there, before he produced the coupon from his tight sleeve. “You’ll never guess what I found-”

“What?!”   


“A coupon for two free ice cream cones from Ollies.” Luke waved the coupon in front of her face, watching it light up.

“Ah-!” Katrielle grinned and jumped into the air. “Letsgoletsgoletsgoletsgo!”

“Absolutely.” Luke made it to the car, opening the door for Katrielle and taking her neon green froggy backpack off her back. One of the googly eyes had fallen off it since she’d started school last year, but she loved it too much to replace it. Katrielle hopped into her booster seat and pulled the seatbelt around herself smartly, but Luke popped the boot to toss the bag in.

Katrielle had an affinity for animals similar to his own. And recently they’d had to give her more and more food in her lunchbox so she wouldn’t go hungry during the day. Hershel was making jokes about it, like father like daughter. 

_ Would she develop his animal talking ability? _

Probably not. They weren’t genetically related. 

...probably.

Luke closed the boot and went to the driver’s seat, opening it and sliding in. He’d gotten himself a new slick car so he and Hershel didn’t have to share their car - the Laytonmobile was older than he was, and even then it was an old refurbished car he’d gotten in his mid 20s - and the man was in his early 50s now. It was a miracle it was still working.

Luke turned the key in the ignition and slid a tape into the tape deck, turning the car stereo from the radio to the tape deck. This was Katrielle’s favourite song-

She clapped along to the beat, Luke tapping his fingers on the steering wheel as the drum beat and bass guitar plucks started up. It came out a couple years ago and Hershel had bought a random popular vinyl and now she was  _ hooked _ . And so Luke had gotten a tape for it.

_ Steve walks warily down the street _

_ With her brim pulled way down low _

_ Ain't no sound, but the sound of her feet _

_ Machine guns ready to go _

**\--**

Hershel was half asleep on his settee, head at an odd angle as he lay mildly uncomfortable, but not uncomfortable enough to move. He’d used his lunch break to nap for the afternoon seeing as he didn’t have any lectures to give and nothing to mark. He’d had a nice nap and maybe it was time to get up? He blinked slowly but felt sleep beginning to reclaim him. Ah… unless- 

The phone in his office had begun to ring shrilly through his room. Hershel jolted but forced himself up, feeling dizzy as he stood and moved to the desk - avoiding the little round table narrowly- to pick up the phone and put it to his ear.

"Hello, this is Hershel Layton. Do you have any inquiries on puzzles or mysteries that need to be solved?” He rambled off his usual greeting, rubbing his eyes, only to be met with a familiar voice.

"Hershel, come down to Ollie's and spend some time with your lover and daughter."

“Luke?” Hershel blinked sleepily.

“You’re not doing anything today, right? We’re just the next block over.” Luke’s voice came over the phone.

“Well, I’ll see what I can do.” Hershel decided.

“See you in… a bit.”

And then the phone hung up. Hershel wondered why Luke didn’t just drive over to pick him up rather than spending money at a payphone.

Regardless, he tried to fix his messy hair and fixed his coat, heading to the door and turning the handle to head outside.

\--

Hershel entered the ice cream parlour, stepping onto the white checkerboard floor and looking over the counter to see the kitchen bustling away - a person standing idly by the ice cream cabinet, wow, they had a lot of flavours - and a booth where Katrielle was frantically waving. They even had an arcade in the back. The floor was sticky and Hershel’s eyes went over a chalkboard advertising the various burgers and milkshakes they sold - recent additions to the menu to rebrand as more than just an  _ ice cream  _ place.

“Papa! Over here!” 

Hershel’s eyes went over to the rest of the parlour. The whole place was decked out in an American 50s aesthetic - all the rage as of late. People were nostalgic and pretending things were better back then. Red booths with fake plastic leather and tables with a flecked white and blue pattern. A plethora of records placed on the walls above the wide windows.

Katrielle was sick of being ignored and thumped her little fist on the booth, forcing Hershel to look in her direction. He smiled, finished soaking in the atmosphere to move over to them - only to see little Kat had a gigantic sundae in front of her. Luke had one as well. An entire banana, three scoops of ice cream, drenched with chocolate sauce and cream.

Luke dug a spoon in, sending the sauce and cream spilling into the bowl and pulled a coupon from his lap, holding it out to Hershel with a wide smile.

“We found this coupon, Hershel- you can use it to get two ice cream cones.” Luke’s eyes glittered deviously. Hershel took the coupon and mulled it over in his head, realizing they had probably originally intended to use the coupons for themselves, but now they had two sundaes. His eyes went to Katrielle completely ignoring the banana in her sundae in favour of digging the spoon into the ice cream and strawberry glaze.

“She’ll get a stomach ache, Luke.”

“No I won’t!” Katrielle glared up at him with a fierce anger in her eyes. “I’m- I’m big now.”

“Are you now?” Hershel decided to just take a seat, scooching next to Luke.

“Yeah! And, I’m getting responsible, too.” Katrielle pulled her frog backpack from under the table, unzipping it and producing a crumpled paper slip - handing it over to Hershel. “I just remembered I have this.”

“Oh?” Hershel took it, seeing it was some kind of typewritten note. His eyes went over the contents, Luke leaning over to read it too.

_ PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS  _

_ Hershel Layton: Tuesday, 5:30pm for Katrielle Layton _

_ SIGNATURE TO CONFIRM X________ _

Luke managed an “ah”.

“Erina wants to see one of you.” Katrielle explained, taking another harsh bite of her ice cream, chomping right down on the plastic spoon. Hearing her refer to her teacher by her first name was a bit jarring for Hershel - times had changed.

“Well, I suppose that would be me.” Hershel drew a pen from his pocket to jot his signature down.

“Do you think you’ll get questions about the fact they mostly only ever see me picking her up?” Luke murmured, having returned to eating his monstrous sundae. Hershel quietly wondered if that was teaching Katrielle good habits, but then again she had the same sundae.

Hershel carefully tapped his pen against the page. Questions were now swarming through his mind. What  _ could  _ he say…?


	2. Good Decisions

“So we could use the fact that you’re  _ the  _ Hershel Layton as some kind of step-up.” Luke pondered aloud by lamplight, jotting down in the  _ Bad Journal  _ he had been flicking through as a weekly check. Nothing. Hilariously enough thoughts about him had been written, despite the fact he was very much an adult.

“Should we try to explain that… you’re Luke La-  _ Triton,  _ and-” Hershel pondered until Luke interrupted him.

“We could pretend I knocked a girl up in New York and I got kicked out and I came back over here with her and then it’ll be less weird!” Luke slammed his fists down onto the table. 

“I cannot imagine you… having sex with a woman.” Hershel admitted-

“Katrielle’s teacher doesn’t know that, does she?” Luke reminded him with a little motion of his finger. “Anyway, being  _ the  _ Hershel Layton will just mean people give you the benefit of the doubt.”

“And yet we have that gigantic fund stashed away in case we suddenly lose our jobs and income.” Hershel mumbled, his lips inches away from his hands clasped together, elbows resting on the table.

Katrielle’s door opened all of a sudden, the poor girl in her red ribbon patterned pyjamas stumbling out into the corridor. 

“My tummy huuuurtsss…” She groaned, letting herself drop to the floor dramatically. Luke got a bit of a look from Hershel.

He made the decision to get up to help her, Hershel pulling his journal over to look at the various notes. Having to go into a primary school too, fun.

“Have you tried going to the bathroom?” Luke cooed, picking her up and hoisting her into the air. “A bath could help too.”

It occurred to him as Katrielle draped himself over her shoulder that he hadn’t bathed her. That clicked in his brain and he squeezed the girl tight.

“How about we run you a nice bath with lots of bubbles?” Luke offered to the girl, feeling her loosen up.

“Wi-will it help my stomach?” She grumbled. 

“I hope it will.” Luke assured, pulling her into the bathroom.

The bathroom was simple and a bit cramped. A shower-bathtub combination, a small cluttered dresser, an old mirror and a beige seashell pink tiling on the walls. An old flat, but charming. Hershel had made a point to scrub the mould from the ceiling corners a couple weeks back - although with all the effort he’d gone through, their sink area was still cluttered and incredibly messy. As was habit.

Katrielle was quick to strip down, Luke grabbing some various bottles from underneath the sink. A large half-empty bottle of liquid soap, which he squirted into the bath, then slotting the plug in.

A trick he’d learned when he wanted a nice bubble bath but didn’t have any kind of bath bomb or bubble bar on hand - this particular brand of expensive liquid soap could create a decent sized mountain range of bubbles. He carefully turned the tap on as well, glancing over to poor Kat who was now holding herself in the cold.

Their apartment wasn’t exactly insulated either. The heating wasn’t very good, especially in the bathroom. He patted her head sympathetically and dipped his hand in the water to test the heat.

“Is that a bit hot for you?” He glanced over to Kat who stood on her tippy toes, hoisting herself up onto the side of the tub and dipping her little toes into the bath and churning bubbles. She paused for a moment before sliding herself in.

“It’s good.” Katrielle decided, leaning back to try and sink into the couple cm of water that rose gradually. Luke increased the tap a little, kneeling by the side of the bath.

He found they’d run out of her shampoo. The conditioner bottle atop the bench was full, however. He pulled it down and just grabbed some of his own adult’s shampoo, followed by a cloth as the bath continued to fill.

“Dad?”

“Hmm?”

“Can I get a ducky, please?”

Luke immediately understood the request, opening a drawer packed with various bath toys and passed her a little yellow rubber duck. One printed eye had been scratched off and the orange paint on the beak was beginning to crack off, but the girl took it eagerly.

Sometimes she played with toy cars in the bath for reasons that were beyond him. Hershel had bought her a small set during a brief phase in her toddler years, hoping to share his love of vintage cars, but she didn’t particularly take interest in the models or manufacturing or engineering side. Car went vroom and nyoom and crash as far as she was concerned, to hell with the engine inside.

As the bath adequately filled, and a couple extra toys dropped in, Luke turned the taps off and watched Kat immediately begin her play with the pillowy mounds of bubbles. Oh, she made his heart melt.

“Does your stomach hurt less now?” Luke cooed affectionately, lightly patting her head.

“Mmhmm.” Kat confirmed, splashing her open palms down onto the water. Luke whipped his head back to try and avoid the little drops to no avail, but he turned back with a plastic cup and a little flannel.

“I just realized we need to wash your hair.” Luke commented softly, handing her the towel to hold over her eyes as he dunked the cup under the water, and then tipping it over her hair.

Her curls immediately began to fall out and straighten in the water. Second pour, third pour, flattened and already soaked wet. 

“You can pull the towel away now.” Luke murmured, watching her put it on the side. But a sadness had appeared in her eyes. He carefully squeezed some shampoo into his hand and went to lather it into her hair. Her eyelids fell slightly.

“Mm.”

“Washing your hair is unpleasant, but it’s important to staying clean.” Luke began to speak to try and explain why he was doing this, only for Katrielle to look into his eyes with her own wobbly tearfilled gaze, her lower lip trembling.

“Why doesn’t Papa love me?”

The words struck through his heart like a knife. 

Luke paused and dipped his hands in the water to rinse them, in a pocket free of bubbles. “Your papa loves you dearly, I promise. He’s just… He has issues with physical contact, is all.”

“Wh… why? Is it because of me?” Katrielle barely raised her head to look at him, tears dripping down her cheeks. “Why doesn’t he ever pick me up from school or say goodnight to me? He’s- he’s-”

“Kat-”

“He’s always in his dumb office working and he never comes out and when I try to talk he only wants to talk about his dumb broken old pots and I hate it!” 

Luke sighed deeply. Kat looked a bit silly with her hair all lathered with bubbles, but those were bitter tears in her eyes. Some childish rage mixed with a deep sadness. It occurred to him a child as young as she was couldn’t comprehend there could be something deeply wrong with a parent. She would have internalized it on herself.

Something he would have to discuss with Hershel later.

“He loves you very, very much, sweetheart, he’s just…” Luke tried to think of a good word that wasn’t brutally honest or something that’d rightfully scare her. This was a bad idea. Everything was a bad idea. He needed to cash out that account and take Kat and run. He-

Deep breath.

“Dad?”

“He has issues being close with people.” Luke explained softly. “There is nothing wrong with you. We love you very, very much.”

“Nope. Not. Wrong.” Katrielle turned her head defiantly, and Luke realized she wasn’t going to listen. A thought bubbled in his head he could prove that he at least loved her with ice cream now that  _ his  _ love for her was being called into question, but the more sensible part of him realized she could somehow find a way to abuse that.

“I  _ do  _ love you.” Luke whispered quietly. He knew he should probably remain stoic but that did damn hurt. 

“Papa doesn’t.” Kat mumbled, now staring down into the water. 

He didn’t know how to refute that. She was wrong, but…

Luke sighed. “He does. I’m very sorry. You deserve better people than us.”

Katrielle had her towel passed back to her to hide her face in as Luke dipped the cup back into the water. Perhaps he could get Hershel to actually pat her head or give her a hug, but it would feel forced after her meltdown just now. Not today.

He couldn’t find himself bothered with the conditioner. Shampoo was just fine. But once she was all clean and her hair was all washed out she didn’t seem to want to play anymore.

He blow dried her hair and put her to bed as was usual. Katrielle had requested a short story to be read before she went to sleep and it worked. Her favourite stuffed rabbit in her arms, fast asleep under her pale pink duvet.

Luke carefully shut the book and slotted it back on her shelf, going back outside to see Hershel had left the door to his small study open.

Luke wished he could make better decisions. Hershel was trying his best. To the point where it created entirely new issues.

_ Luke wished he could make better decisions. _

Nothing scared him more than the thought that he could somehow become an enabler. Bile rising in his throat. But he knew Hershel really,  _ really  _ just wanted to be an okay parent. He’d read journal entries of pure fear and disgust of himself. Benefit of the doubt, maybe?

He had the feeling one day he’d wake up to find Hershel with his arms and throat cut to ribbons in the bathtub with some kind of lengthy note about  _ protecting my beloved daughter, _

But Hershel knew Luke checked the journal. Luke began to wonder if he was simply writing in that as a decoy with a third hidden journal where-

_ LUKE WISHED HE COULD MAKE BETTER DECISIONS _

He was still a child deep down. Sure he had Hershel kind of guiding him, but… What was he doing? What was he in any of this. He made bad decisions and god he was trying and he’d give themselves a B+ considering their circumstances, but…

Luke went to plop down in Hershel’s study, seeing the man hunched over his desk. A little case of various bones from some ancient kind of dolphin ancestor. Mostly vertebrae and a part of the flipper. The lamp was dim and bathed the room in a golden light. The man decided to sit down on the couch and folded his arms.

“I need to be held.” Luke announced in a grumpy tone. He quietly knew maybe Hershel wasn’t the best person to go to. But his family had cut contact and his coworkers weren’t particularly interested in him. Who else did he have? “Katrielle deserves better people than us.”

“I agree.” Hershel lifted a little bone from the case to inspect it. He didn’t look back, merely squinted at it and replaced it to pull another bone.

“I think… I think we’re…” Luke hugged his knees to his chest. “...d… doing okay?”

Hershel tapped the bone with a little implement, beginning to speak again. “If you believe we should put her up for adoption-”   


“No! She’s my daughter!” Luke felt horror flood through him at the idea of  _ giving her up.  _ He hadn’t realized what that could entail.

“If you’re opposed to giving her up yourself, I could give you the money to move into another apartment and-”

“I’m not going to  _ leave  _ you either!”

Hershel sighed deeply. He placed the little bones back into the velvety case and closed it gently with a satisfying click. He spun around in his chair to see poor Luke with his face buried in his hands.

“Luke, my dearest.” Hershel spoke softly. “I’ve suggested options to remove myself from the equation, but you don’t seem interested in following through.”

“Can we discuss it another time?” Luke sat up. “I need sleep too.”

“Is Kat in bed?”

“She’s in bed.” The man stood up to leave the room and get changed. Hershel made the decision to brew himself some herbal tea before bed. He needed that.

He could turn out the lights and navigate his way back to their bedroom and sleep peacefully. The upcoming days were weighing on his mind, but nothing he could do about them just worrying. He needed his sleep. Luke had set a bedtime for both of them weirdly enough, 11pm at the latest. If he was still working by 11pm Luke would essentially drag him to bed by the ear. 

The time was just past 10pm. But Luke wanted to go to bed so they would be going to bed.

Once he’d finished his tea, he made his way into their bedroom to see Luke already curled up on his side of the bed. He was seemingly already fast asleep, completely limp in the lamplight.

Hershel removed his shirt, pulling it over his head and merely putting it over the dresser, sliding off his dress pants as well. Luke loved him, perhaps too much for his own good. Much much more than he deserved, either. 

Moving to lay in bed, he shuffled down under the covers and curled up on his own. Mere moments later, Luke shuffled close to him, pressing his forehead to Hershel’s.

Hershel opened his eyes again to make eye contact with Luke in the dark. Their eyes met silently, finding he had no words for the man. Luke had no words for him. Hershel could feel his heart thumping in his ears and in the guilty dark, but his partner merely smiled warmly.

“I do love you, Hershel, you know.” Luke whispered, and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Goodnight.”

And like that, Luke, opposite him curled up by his chest, nudging his hand to try and cuddle closer into him. Hershel felt tears spring to his eyes, but he felt sleep quickly coming to take him. He was loved, he was loved, he was loved. His eyes fell shut as the tears continued to brim, and within a couple heartbeats he was asleep.


	3. Interrogation, Perhaps

Hershel Layton sat in the tiny children’s chair, glancing around the classroom. Those portraits Katrielle had told him and Luke about were laid out on a tarp on the floor to dry, the fluorescent lights blaring down a cold white. Wide windows, a whiteboard with the word of the day, school photos on the wall, old blue loop carpet. And plenty of simple graphics on the wall of simple subtraction and addition, a shelf of picture books and a reading area…

A part of him wished he could be an elementary school teacher. If he were normal.

His eyes went back to the door of the classroom. The teacher had not shown up yet, but he was a bit early. 5:25pm, according to the clock on the wall - he noticed it had detailed numbers on it and a smiling face. Some kind of time telling aid for the kids. He drew the journal from his inner pocket.

_05/03/81_

_I’m not sure if wanting to be an elementary school teacher in a brief moment was a sexually driven thought or not._

He clapped it shut and slipped it back into his jacket pocket. 

So. His plan. If asked, Katrielle is Luke’s child from an accidental pregnancy he caused back in America and he’s helping him with the kid. Sure. That way she could have two dads without it being strange.

5:26pm-

The door opened, a young woman in her mid 20s at the door. Hershel got to his feet, a warm gentlemanly smile on his face. “Miss…?”

“Oh, please just call me Erina.” The teacher nodded, some spectacles on her face and a big smile as she moved forwards in her little ballet flats to shake his hand, before it somehow clicked who she was standing with. “Wait. Are you-?”

“Hershel Layton.” Hershel bowed his head. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“I was wondering if Katrielle was related to you!” She clearly had her confirmation. “Anyway, let’s just take a seat and we can talk.”

And so Hershel sat back down in that tiny little uncomfortable plastic chair, crossing one leg over the other. Erina had a swivel chair she plopped down onto, pulling a certain piece of paper out of a sleeve on the desk, holding it carefully.

“I don’t have any issues with her.” Erina spoke, looking through her glasses. “She’s a delight to have in the class and she’s incredibly enthusiastic.”

“That’s a relief.” Hershel almost mentally heaved a sigh of relief.

“Does she like doing puzzles at home?” Erina asked with a bit of a smile.

“She does plenty of them.” Hershel felt a bit of pride seep in. “She’s very intellectually curious from what I’ve seen at home.”

“Speaking of at home.” Erina pondered aloud. “Are you raising her… alone?”

“Technically yes, although there are other people living in our apartment. My assistant Luke Triton picks her up after school seeing as I’m busy working when school ends.” Technically not a lie.

“Oh! So that’s who I’ve seen.” Erina jotted something down in cursive that Hershel could not read, anxiety spiking in his stomach. “I hear a lot of talk about Uncle Luke.”

“What does she say, might I ask?”

“A lot of admiration for everything you two do, mostly.” Erina nodded. “I don’t think she’s ready to… understand that not everyone likes to hear about the giant holes all over London, though.”

“It took far too long to seal up that last one.” Hershel agreed, a bit pained.

“Well then.” She jotted some notes down on the paper once again, peering through her spectacles. “Do you have any general concerns?”

“None at all, I’m just glad to hear she’s doing fine.” Hershel gave a little nod, glad the conversation was coming to an end.

“Well! I suppose you can go. Say hi to Kat for me.” Erina gave her best goodbye smile and waved over to the door - instantly opening and three people coming in. Hershel got to his feet and headed to the door and-

Some cute little boy with a black mop of hair and his parents

Hershel went to the door, hurriedly saying a goodbye. He wished desperately for a moment that he was either dead or _normal._ Someone who could _function_ and could be a normal proper parent. What a shame.

_05/03/81_

_I regret stepping into an elementary school_

\--

Luke sat at the tea table he’d set up for himself and Katrielle, having laid out several kinds of biscuits and little bits of candy - mostly gummy worms and jet planes. Katrielle had set her stuffed seal toy down on one side of the table while Luke sat opposite her with a plastic sip cup. Katrielle had a little plastic tea set she adored - perhaps mimicking her other father.

“Aaron today was being silly and Erina had to make him sit in the corner for a couple minutes.” Katrielle spoke over her little teacup of water. “And during super silent reading time I started a big book!”

“A big book? How thick?” Luke asked, eyebrow raised.

“Wait!” Katrielle vaulted herself to her feet, sprinting to the door to grab her frog backpack, unzipping it and grabbing her bookbag. And from that she drew a little tiny novel, running back over to the table.

She offered the book to Luke with an outstretched hand. Luke took it to read the front cover.

_SOPHIE GOES TO THE PARK_

_DOG TALES 23_

“It’s- it’s about a dog.” Katrielle explained with great glee.

Luke flipped open through the pages and quietly remarked as he compared this talking dog book to, well, actual dogs. Dogs didn’t talk like that.

“Is it… is this what dogs talk like?” Katrielle asked, leaning over the tea set.

“I’ll have to say no.” Luke shook his head. “Pretty close, though!”

“Wh… what _do_ dogs talk about?” Katrielle tilted her head.

“They’re less ‘oh, I want to return home to master’ and more snarky about everyone.”

“Wh-what does-- what does ‘snarky’ mean?”

“It means sarcastic, like, when you say something and mean the opposite.” Luke fumbled for an explanation, “No, that’s not exactly right-”

The front door opened and Katrielle’s eyes immediately turned to the door, her eyes lighting up. “Papa!”

Hershel stood in the doorway, looking exasperated. “Good evening.” He slowly moved inside, dropping his briefcase and removing his coat. Luke took his plastic teacup, filling it with water from the teapot and knocking it back. His expression made him anxious.

Luke placed the teacup down, weaving his fingers together nervously. “Did it go… well?”

“I think it went passably.” Hershel gave a little nod, but his gaze said otherwise. That paranoia that always seemed to be gripping him was clearly present. Katrielle had emerged by his side, staring up hopefully.

Luke gave him a bit of a head tilt. Hershel didn’t understand until his daughter took his hand to press to her cheek and squeeze tightly. He almost responded viscerally, recoiling, then freezing.

She noticed.

“Hershel, you can hold her hand.” Luke murmured, only to see Katrielle had let go instead, staring at the ground. There was a beat of silence until she merely moved silently to go to her room.

Her door slammed shut. Hershel dipped his head.

“I’m sorry.”

“Just _let_ her give you a _hug_ sometimes.”

“I’m scared.”

“And she thinks you hate her!” Luke shouted, putting his foot down. His hands were in fists, but the rage couldn’t stay long enough to do anything of action or substance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, sorry for the not-so-happy ending. They'll be fine, just things are ominous. I hope you enjoyed! Have a lovely day. <3

**Author's Note:**

> Fanfic is finished, but I'm going to upload a new chapter each day. Two more chapters will be uploaded over the course of the following days. <3


End file.
